Wolf man is the latest Blumhouse horror film to grace our screens, with horror director Leigh Whannell returning to present his take on the classic Universal monster movie. He’s done it before with The invisible manspin it as a tale of gaslighting and domestic abuse, and his vision for Wolf man tells a similar, emotionally devastating story, making it a great entry into the year’s new movies.
Speaking to TechRadar, lead actor Christopher Abbott talked about why Blake’s transformation into the terrifying titular character means the horror is as much a tragedy as anything else, as the theme of loss runs throughout the narrative.
When asked if other performances influenced his, he told us, “Yes, I would say so The fly, Elephant manthere’s a little David Lynch in there. I guess there’s kind of a tragic element to both of those monster creatures, you know, and I think it has that.”
This was one of my most anticipated horror movies of 2025 and it really delivered. While, yes, it was scary and the jumpy moments were effective, I found myself more disturbed by the psychological torment and the emotional moments, especially when it came to the breakdown and total loss of communication between Blake and his wife and daughter (played by Julia Garner and Matilda Firth, respectively).
That’s a big reason I wanted to do the movie because when I first saw the designs, I just thought there was something very tragic about the monster.
Christopher Abbott, actor
Wolf man features some brilliant scenes where the POV switches from the wolves to the humans so we get to see both sides of the situation. Their inability to communicate and understand each other makes Blake’s transformation deeply sad as he is transformed into something completely unrecognizable, reflecting the ways we cannot communicate with any species but our own. That sense of isolation and primal animal instinct that takes over is the real horror at the heart of Wolf man. The audience already knows that Blake and his wife Charlotte’s marriage is strained, and now they’ve had the opportunity to talk about it ripped away.
Abbott added: “They’re miscommunicating. They’re talking around each other, they’re not communicating well. You just need that idea to then help set up the more amazing thing where, where the communication is then taken away from you. And how do you communicate you saw when you’re not even physically able to?”
Not only was there a break in the bond between husband and wife, but also a father and daughter. Abbott praised his young co-star Matilda Firth, who played his on-screen daughter Ginger, revealing: “She was weirdly seasoned. It felt like she was weirdly seasoned. I loved her, but it was almost off-putting. She also felt a lot like a pro I worked with as an 80-year-old theater vet, but she’s there to play she’ll do it or try it.”
Wolf man is in cinemas from Friday 17 January.
